We have become dependent on our cell phones – my wife and I, and I have been resenting the cell phone companies and looking for an alternative to their very expensive product. Here’s what I have found out: There are none. They have done the capitalist thing, and narrowed the choices down to a few competitors offering the same product on the same terms. While they are locked in this business model, the basic phone itself is crappy and over-hyped, much like the days when we were stuck with two phones from AT&T: The desk model, and the amazing Princess phone.
It took government action to break up Ma Bell, but these days corporations are our government, so there won’t be any anti-trust actions soon forthcoming.
Oh, I see all of the gimmicks and gadgets, the cameras and music players and directional devices (a government-provided service). But the basic service advantage is the ability to receive a call while away from home.
It reminds me of Marshall McLuhan’s dictum that every advance in technology carries with it a corresponding loss of freedom. (McLuhan gave the example of the telegraph – when eastern companies had branches in the frontier west, they had little control over their employees. With the new telegraph technology, employees had to be in the office to answer the tweet.)
Anyway, I’ve shopped around now. I thought the best alternative was the prepaid phone, as it carries no two-year contract, the industry version of the Model-T (any color you want, so long as it’s black.). Verizon offers prepaid alternatives, but get this – they want not only purchase of advance minutes, but also a daily charge for use – that is, your first call each day will cost you $1.00 or $1.95 (aka “$2.00”). Our local food store offers prepaid phones and minutes, but it’s only a little but cheaper and there’s uncertainty about the network. T-Mobile had the best deal – a reasonably priced phone and the ability to buy a large chunk of minutes that don’t expire at month’s end. But their coverage is limited, and if you are roaming, your phone simply doesn’t work. If we were to go to Montana, we’d have to find T-Mobile “hot spots.” It’s the modern version of the pay phone.
And here’s the catch – for so long as you do normal use – 4-500 minutes a month, prepaid phones are no bargain. Here’s why: With the exception of T-Mobile, the carriers all expire your minutes at month’s end. Given that scenario, where they actually take back the product you bought and paid for, there is still that monthly rent. And that’s all they really want from you – monthly cash flow. (Imagine that we bought cookies with the proviso that if we didn’t eat them by the end of the week, we had to give them back and buy new ones. Is this the best they can do?)
And, of course, we all wait for the wonderful bounteous free market to work its magic on another aspect of the cell phone business – the fact that whenever a call is made, two carriers are being paid for the same signal. C’mon, free market … someone, some competitive carrier – make the move – wait for it …. wait for it … drop the charge for incoming calls. Not happening.
Here’s my solution: I am taking my cell phone number off my letterhead. I am simply going out of reach. I managed before, and will manage now. What is so important that it cannot wait for me to check messages? Life and death matters? Very rare, and certainly not worth the price of dealing with the cell phone oligarchs.
(I experienced but one single life-or-death incident in the last twenty years. Two of our aunts died in a two-day period. My brother, the priest, needed to be on the scene, as the family was in need and he was the logical go-to guy for funerals. I could not reach him. He was in the mountains.)
Piece of Mindful 
http://www.magicjack.com/5/index.asp
There – you don’t need a telephone company.
They have a cell phone magicjack too. It creates a mini-cell site in your home, for use by an in-range cell phone. It intercepts your cell and sends it over magicjack. No cell charges!
But why isn’t it for sale?
Regulation are needed! Gotta control those nasty telephone companies, right?
Yeah – right!!!
Regulations only support those companies – the cell companies are arguing that magicjack is infringing on their frequencies and is ‘illegal’. The FCC has put a stop-sell order until the FCC-god grants ‘the right’ to magicjack (or not).
But more regulation must be the answer to fix this problem!! Right?
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We need “negative” regulation – that is, we need to force these guys to compete. That’s the whole problem – free markets are destructive, and everyone, in some way or another, is attempting to hide from them.
So “regulation” would mean that we could use their signal with our own device, pay them a fair price mind you, whatever the market will bear, but allowing us to switch to another signal at our pleasure, making them compete for our business.
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Mark,
There is no such thing as “negative” regulation.
All regulation are edicts enforced by violence. To use violence to “force” non-violent persons to act against their will IS ALWAYS evil.
You cannot create a “good” by using evil means.
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Magic jack looks interesting, but does not fill the purpose of having a cell phone – the ability to have people call you when you are away from home.
And, I tried Vonage for a while. I could not receive faxes – not enough signal. Does Magic Jack have enough spunk to carry a fax signal? I called Vonage about my fax problem, and they had no solution, but did suggest I buy a second line, meaning that I would be paying more for their service than Qwest’s. It was a joke. Took a month to switch back.
I’m quite happy with Qwest.
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Bring a computer with you.
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Please use on speaker or earpiece only to avoid radiation and brain tumors. After 400 hours of use some people are over exposed, others never have problems. Cell towers are no good either if you live too close.
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Voice and data transmission is one area where we have seen substantial lowering of costs and enhancement of service compared to several years ago.
You can complain partly because the cell phone companies are honest about their charges and send you a monthly bill. Compare this to our central government’s fine services, such as the Department of Energy. It would be edifying if they sent us a monthly bill with an itemized breakdown of exactly what they did with our money. I suspect we would find our cell phones a better deal.
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My shopping experience took a lot more time as I was with my previous carrier for years before the bills just got to me. I shoped around with contract and prepaid companies before I settled on Net10. Previously paying more than $100 a month with my previous carrier, Net10 is saving me more than $60+ a month with their $40 for 400M “easy minutes” plan. Net10 phone displays keeps track of your minutes and you can easily purchase more at varying prices if needed. Texting is also inexpensive, phones are super affordable with the most expensive reaching $79+ activation, and international calls are only.15 a minute. The TMobile calling network offers great coverage and best of all, you can purchase Net10 at Target or KMart. Even the customer service comes highly rated and has far lived up to it. In terms of prepaid, Net10 was a great choice for me.
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